打油诗 Limericks

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嘴上功夫
打油诗 Limericks

英文的打油诗称为limerick，出自爱尔兰Limerick镇客栈中流行的一首打油诗。它的特色是：

1.每一首有五行

2.第一、二、五行押一个韵，第三、四行押一个韵

3.基本的音步是两个轻音节后面配上一个重音节

4.第一、二、五行各有三个音步，第三、四行各有两个音步

5.主题往往荒诞粗鄙，尤其常常带有性暗示

打油诗首见于十四世纪的英国童谣和民歌中，到了十六、七世纪，街头乞丐和客栈酒徒也都爱吟唱打油诗。Don Marquis还说打油诗可以分成三种：「可以有女士在场的；不能有女士在场，但可以有教会人士在场的——还有就是真正的打油诗。」言下之意，真正的打油诗不仅猥亵，而且亵渎神明。不过英国诗人爱德华李尔(Edward Lear)在一八六三年出版的《无理书》(Book of Nonsense)里面所收录的打油诗，不涉及猥亵色情，却也带动了打油诗的另一波风潮。以下先选出几首Lear的作品来共赏。

•There was a Young Lady who chin
Resembled the point of a pin:
So she had it made sharp,
And purchased a harp,
And played several tunes with her chin.
有位小姐的下巴
长得就像针尖，
于是她拿去磨利了
再买把竖琴，
用下巴弹了几首曲子。
•There was an old person of Cromer
Who stood on one leg to read Homer.
When he found he grew stiff
He jumped over the cliff,
Which concluded that person of Cormer.
克洛马有个老头子
金鸡独立站着读荷马史诗。
他发现读得全身僵硬，
就从悬崖跳下去，
克洛马的老头子就这么完了。
以下还收集了一些各种主题的打油诗请读者慢慢欣赏。不过要记得，打油诗的趣味在于字词中声韵与意义的巧妙配合，以及朗诵时的轻快节奏，所以光看中文翻译当然不好玩，还得念出来才有意思。
•There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
Then his daughter named Nan
Ran away with a man.
As for the bucket … Nantucket.
从前有个来自南塔基特的男子
把所有的钱装在一个水桶里。
然后他那叫南恩的女儿
跟个男人跑了，
那个水桶呢……南塔基特。
【说明】
地名Nantucket和Nan took it.（南恩拿走了。）谐音。
•So he followed them to Pawtucket …
The man and the girl and the bucket.
He said to the man,
“You are welcome to Nan,
But as for the bucket, Pawtucket.”
于是他追到帕塔基特……
追着那对男女还有水桶。
他对男的说，
「你要南恩我不反对， 可是水桶呢，帕塔基特。」
【说明】
地名Pawtucket和Pa’ll take it.（老爸要拿走。）谐音。
•There once was a lady named Cager,
Who as the result of a wager,
Consented to fart
The entire oboe part
Of Mozart’s quartet in F-major.
从前有个叫做凯姬的女士
因为跟人打赌，
所以同意用放屁来演奏
整个以簧管的部分，
曲目是莫札特的F大调四重奏。
•A Young schizophrenic named Struther
When told of the death of his mother,
Sald, “Yes, it’s too bad,
But 1 can’t feel too sad.
After all, I still have each other.”
有个精神分裂的青年叫做史特拉瑟
听到他母亲的死讯，
说道：「当然很不幸啦，
可是我不会太悲伤。
毕竟，我还是拥有彼此。」
【说明】
精神分裂，一个人等于两个，故曰彼此。
•There was an old maid of Genoa;
I blush when I think what lowa.
She’s gone to her res,
But it’s all for the best;
Otherwise I would borrow Samoa.
有一位热那亚的老小姐，
我想到爱荷华就会脸红。
她已经长眠地下，
不过这样最好，
不然的话我会借萨摩亚。
【说明】
地名Iowa（爱荷华）和1 owe her.（我欠她。）谐音，Samoa（萨摩亚）和some more（再多一点）谐音。把这两处代换进去就可以看懂了。
•There’s a notable family named Stein:
There’s Gertrude, there’s Ep, and there’s Ein.
Gert’s prose is the bunk;
Ep’s sculpture is junk;
and no one can understand Ein!
有个叫做斯坦的知名家族，
里面有葛楚德、艾普和爱因。
葛楚德的散文乱写一通。
艾普的雕塑是垃圾，
爱困说什么没有人听得懂！
【说明】

这三个人其实不是一家子，连姓都不一样。Gertrude Stein是旅居法国的美籍作家，Sir Jacob Epstein是出生在美国的英国籍雕塑家，还有就是著名的科学家Albert Einstein（爱因斯坦）。不过这三人的姓都有一项特点，那就是里头都有stein这几个字。如此打油诗中Gertrude Stein，Ep Stein，Ein Stein连名带姓的念出来，不就是暗指这三位名人了吗？

•There was an old widower, Dovle,
Who wrapped up his wife in tinfoil.
He thought it would please her
To stay in the freezer;
And, anyway, outside she’d spoil.
有个老鳏夫叫做杜尔，
他把老婆用锡箔包起来。
他认为老婆会喜欢
待在冷冻库里——
反正放在外面她会馊掉。
•There was an old man of Peru
Who dreamt he was eating a shoe.
He awoke in the night.
With a terrible fright
And found it was perfectly true.
祕鲁有个老头子
梦到他在吃鞋子。
他夜里醒来
吓了一大跳，
发现全都是真的。
•She frowned and called him Mr.
Because in sport he kr.
And so in spite
That very nite
This Mr. kr. sr.
她皱着眉头叫他「先生」，
因为他开玩笑地亲了她。
所以，为了泄忿，
就在那天晚上，
这位先生亲了她妹妹。
【说明】
Me. Kr.和sr.必须要押韵才能符合打油诗的规则，所以kr.要念成kissed her，sr.要念成sister。而nite和spite押韵，代表night。
•A fly and a flea in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Sald the fly, “Let us flee!”
“Let us fly!” said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
一只苍蝇和一只跳蚤在排烟管里
被困住了，怎么办？
苍蝇说：「我们逃吧！」
「我们飞吧！」跳蚤说。
于是牠们从排烟管的裂缝里飞走了。
【说明】
这边的fly是「飞」和「苍蝇」的双关语，flee（逃走）和flea（跳蚤）则是谐音。这一则打油诗其实与前一篇「绕口令」中的一则非常相似，只是为了要符合打油诗的规则而稍有不同，不过仍保留了绕口令拗口的趣味。
•A rocker explorer named Wright
Once traveled much faster than light.
He set out one day
In a relative way,
And returned on the previous night.
有位火箭探险家名叫莱特，
有一回旅行的速度比光快得多。
他在某一天出发，
采相对的方式，
结果在前一天晚上回来。
【说明】
爱因斯坦在相对论中预言，若物体行进的速度超过光速，时间就会倒流。
•There was an old codger of Broome,
Who kept a baboon in his room.
“It reminds me,” he said.
“Of a friend who is dead.”
But he never would tell us of whom.
布鲁市有个怪老头子，
在房间里养了一只狒狒。
他说：「牠让我想起
一位故友。」
可是他从不肯说是谁。
•I once had a skunk named Sue
That I hit in the head with a shoe.
She raised up her tail
I ran like hell,
Has this ever happened to you?
我养过一只臭鼬叫做苏，
我用鞋子敲牠的头。
牠翘起尾巴，
我赶快逃走。
你碰过这样的事吗？
•There was a young fellow named Sudney
Who drank till he ruined his kidney.
It shriveled and sharnk
As he sat there and drank,
But he’d had a good time at it, didn’t he?
有个年轻人叫悉尼，
喝酒喝到肾都坏了，
肾脏干瘪皱缩，
他就坐在那里喝，
不过他喝得过瘾，不是吗？
•There was a young lady of Lynn
Who was so uncommonly thin
That when she essayed
To drink lemonade,
She slipped through the straw and fell in.
有个琳恩市的少女，
长得不是普通的瘦。
她尝试
喝柠檬水，
结果从吸管里滑进去了。